Shoe-guard.



No. 800,734. v PATENTED OCT. 3, 1905.

' L. J. & S. A. FRIEDHEIM.

SHOE GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEON J. FRIEDHEIM, OF ST. LOUIS, AND SIDNEY A. FRIEDHEIM, OF

JOPLIN, MISSOURI.

SHOE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed November 11. 1904. Serial No. 232,305-

To 0]] 10710712, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LEON J. FRIEDHEIM, residing at St. Louis, and SIDNEY A. FRIED- umM, residing at Joplin, in the county of Jasper, in the State of Missouri, citizens of the United States, have invented new and'useful Improvements in Shoe-Guards, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a metallic guard for shoes, and is particularly designed for the use of miners, firemen, and other classes of laborers whose work keeps them on very rough and often wet ground. The invention is obviously not limited, however, to use by persons engaged in any particular occupation, but will be found useful wherever the wearer desires to protect his shoes from direct contact with rocky or wet soil. Miners, for example, on account of coming in contact with the rough rock inthe mines are compelled to wear heavy hob-nailed shoes. These are so heavy and unpliable that they can use them only in the mines, and they are consequently obliged to have other shoes for wear outside. In the same way stationary firemen are compelled to wear very heavy shoes on account of the extreme heat and the liability of a light shoe to burn. It is with a View of preventing this double expense and giving the workingman greater comfort that our invention has been designed. These and other functions, as well as the advantages obtained by the construction of our improved shoe-guard, will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of our invention applied to a shoe. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the guard with the counter-section and toecap removed. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, showing the counter-section in place. Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, showing the toe-cap in place; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal central section of a slightly-modified form of the complete shoeguard.

In the views, A represents the sole-section of our improved guard as a whole, the same being stamped from one piece of sheet metal, preferably steel. It extends for the entire length of the shoe and is shaped, as shown, to conform to the configuration of the sole and heel of the shoe, there being a flat portion a, underlying the heel, a vertical portion 6, fitting against the front of the heel, and an instep portion 0, curving downwardly to the tread portion (Z. The heel and tread portions (4 and (Z have perforations e punched in them, so as to leave burs or sharp projections f on their lower sides, which obviate the danger of the wearers slipping upon smooth or wet surfaces. H represents the counter-section of our guard, and T the toe-cap. These parts are also stamped from sheet metal, although they may be made of leather or other material, if desired. They are shaped to conform to the counter and toe of the shoe, respectively, and are attached to the sole-section A in the following way: The heel portion a of said sole section A and that portion of the latter lying immediately inside the toe of the shoe are provided with upwardly and inwardly bent flanges g g, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The counter-section H and toe-cap T are formed with corresponding outwardly projecting flanges it and t at their lower edges, respectively, as also appears clearly in said figures.

Now to assemble the parts, the countersection A must first be placed in position over the heel portion a, and then the flange g of the latter is bent down over the flange It of the former and is then swaged to make a close and permanent seam. The flangeg of the sole portion (Z may, however, be previously bent around into the shape shown in Fig. 4, and then the toe-cap flange t can be slid under said flange until the toe-cap reaches its proper position. The seam may then be pressed down to form a permanent joint or it may be left sufliciently loose, so that the toe-cap may be removed and another one of different height substituted. Our invention contemplates the use of difierent sizes of toe-caps with one solesection, and for that purpose the flange t is not gripped with sufficient force by the flange g to make its removal impossible.

In some cases it may alsobe desirable to make the counter-section H interchangeable, as well as the toe-cap, as where the sole-section A has become considerably worn a new one may be substituted without the necessity of purchasing a new counter-section or toecap. To permit the removability of the counter-section, we have devised the modified form of shoe-guard, shown in Fig. 5. The construction here is similar in every respect to that of Figs. 1 to t, except that the heel portion is cupped up in the process of stamping, so as to entirely surround the heel of the shoe, and the flange to receive the flange of the eonnter-section H is formed at the upper edge /ol" the hollow heel portion Z1, so formed. Thus the co1.1ntersection H can be slid into place in the same manner as the toe-cap, and by only slightly compressing the flange Z onto said flange the counter-section can be easily removed at will and applied to another solesection or a different counter-section may be substituted for the one removed.

The preferredmeans by which our improved shoeguard is attached to the shoe of the wearer consists, as indicated in Fig. l, of straps S either riveted or looped to the sides of the counter-section H and provided with some suitable form of buckle B.

In order to prevent the edges of the counter-section and toe-cap when they are constructed of-metal from injuring the leather of the shoe in the application of the guard, said edges are curved outwardly and upwardly, as indicated at m and n, so as to present smooth rounded surfaces to the entering shoe.

It will be seen from the above description that our invention provides a strong, simple, and durable guard for shoes, readily applied and removed, whereby a miner or other workman is not obliged to change his shoes on commencing and quitting work, and the life of his shoes is greatly increased.

\Vhile the principal novelty and advantage of our improved guard resides in the metal construction illustrated and described, yet we are not limited to the use of metal throughout, nor to any particular shape or configuration, nor to the exact form of joint shown.

Having described our invention, What we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A metallic shoe-guard comprising a solesection shaped to conform to the sole and heel of a shoe, a toe-cap removably secured to the front end of said sole-section and a countersection removably secured to the rear end of said sole-section, each provided with a rounded front edge to prevent injury to the shoe.

2. A shoe-guard comprising a perforated and roughened sole-section shaped to conform to the heel and sole of a shoe, flanges on the toe and heel portions of said sole-section, a counter-section and a toe-cap, each provided with flanges adapted to cooperate with said first-mentioned flanges to secure the parts together and means to attach the guard to the shoe.

3. A shoe-guard comprising a sole-section provided with upwardly and inwardly bent flanges at its toe and heel portions, a countersection and a toe cap each provided with flanges adapted to engage said first-mentioned flanges whereby said counter-section and the cap are removably secured to said sole-section.

4:. A shoe-guard comprising a sheet-metal sole-section having a depressed recess to receive the heel of a shoe, flanges projecting from the edge of the toe-portion of said solesection and from the edge of said heel-recess, a toe-cap having a flange adapted to engage in the flange of said toe portion and a countersection having a flange adapted to engage in the flange of said heel-recess, whereby said counter-section and toe-cap may be removed from said sole-section.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEON J. FRIE DH EIM. SIDNEY A. FRIEDHEIM.

\Vitnesses as to Leon J. l riedheim:

KARL M. VETSBURG, D. S. .DREYFUS.

Witnesses as to Sidney A. Friedheim:

HonAo n M nnm'r'r, FRED L. VVILLIAMS. 

